Rumors about the next-generation Xbox have been circulating for years. The next-generation Xbox, or Xbox 720 as some call it, is expected to launch later this year. There are some indications that Microsoft might unveil the next-generation Xbox ahead of E3 2013. Other rumors have put the price of the next-generation Xbox at around $400.

While most details of the next-generation console remain to be seen, leaked specs have surfaced this week that give some hardware specifications for the processor that will be the brains of the next-generation Xbox. The processor has x64 architecture and eight cores running at 1.6 GHz. Each of those CPU threads has its own 32 kB L1 instruction cache and 32 kB L1 data cache. Each module of the four CPU cores has its own 2 MB L2 cache giving the processor a total of 4 MB of L2 cache.

VGLeaks reports that each core has one fully independent hardware thread and doesn't share execution resources. Each hardware thread is also reportedly able to issue two instructions per clock cycle. The next-generation Xbox GPU is reportedly a custom D3D 11.1 class unit running at 800 MHz with 12 shader cores and 768 total threads.

Each of those threads is reportedly able to perform one scaler multiplication and additional operation per clock. A natural user interface sensor is also always present. That processor is reportedly paired with 8 GB of DDR3 RAM and 32 MB of fast embedded SRAM.

The machine is also paired with a 6x Blu-ray drive, gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, and various hardware accelerators for image, video, and audio codecs. The machine is also tipped include a Kinect multichannel echo cancellation hardware chip and cryptography engines for encrypting and decrypting content.

That is called free market. Developer releases multiplatform game on XB, PS and PC. If console versions sell more (and it seems they usually do), developer will put more focus/time/resources on console version next time, and after that.

It is naïve to think that disappearance of consoles would bring everyone back to PC. Majority of people simply want to play games, not to tinker with hardware. More people would move from consoles to tablets/smartphones/iPods… than to PCs, and that would hurt gaming even more.

I’m building my computers since early ’90, and really enjoy it. A few days ago I upgraded my gaming PC from C2Q to new iCore, and had my first Z77 chipset MoBo. On system shutdown, NIC would remain active and, for some reason, confuse my router so that other computers on LAN would drop network and Internet connectivity. While gaming PC was up and running, other machines would run without network issues. I think of myself as reasonably clued about hardware, still it took me solid 2 hours to figure this out how to disable WoL as feature doesn’t exist in motherboard’s EFI. EFI has “wake on kbd” and “wake on mouse” options, but no wake on lan. However, if you ENABLE ERP feature, it will in return disable all wake on… features, including wake on lan. Logical, isn’t it? I actually enjoyed the challenge, but for someone who just wants to run machine and play a game, it would be mighty frustrating. And then there are driver updates, game, OS, AV, PunkBuster… patches, and then there are Steam, Origin, uPlay… updates. All in all, hardly a user friendly environment for someone who just wants to play a game.

And then, of course, MS and Sony go an extra mile to secure exclusive titles and developers. I was hoping that MS initiative “Games for Windows” will bring some order (and fine-tuned, optimized extraordinary titles) to PC gaming, but it didn’t happen. Probably due to MS dedication to Xbox… but still, it is a shame that PC manufacturers like Intel, AMD, nVidia, Creative, TurtleBeach, Cooler Master, Thermaltake and all other, especially high-end enthusiast brands… didn’t find it important to create some kind of consortium and put some money into securing more exclusive developers and titles for the platform.

"A politician stumbles over himself... Then they pick it out. They edit it. He runs the clip, and then he makes a funny face, and the whole audience has a Pavlovian response." -- Joe Scarborough on John Stewart over Jim Cramer